


To Storybrooke, With Love

by ellacj



Series: 52 Weeks of Swan Queen [25]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Crack, F/F, Swan Town, super super crack, swan town 2k15, the town is a metaphor for regina, this is the crackiest thing i have ever written
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-24
Updated: 2015-06-24
Packaged: 2018-04-05 23:55:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4199913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellacj/pseuds/ellacj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The sacrifice was for Regina, but it was also for the town."</p><p>-Jennifer Morrison</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Storybrooke, With Love

**Author's Note:**

> because the swan town meme is my new favorite thing
> 
> also fun story I'M FINALLY CAUGHT UP ON THIS CHALLENGE WOOT WOOT

The bricks in the clock tower are unusually warm tonight.

Emma sighs, gently stroking the bricks with a thumb. She has a long and complicated history with this town, and the clock tower is the beautiful centerpiece to it. Of course, now that she’s the Dark One, the people of Storybrooke retreat inside when they see her coming. It hurts, but she manages to get through it. She just needs The Town by her side.

“Oh, Storybrooke,” she sighs, leaning her head against the comfortingly sturdy wall. “What would I do without you?”

As she sits, alone with The Town, she’s overtaken by memories. Like the first time she met The Town.

_“Wait a second. You’re the child of… the whole town?” Emma asks, raising an eyebrow._

_Henry nods. “Don’t ask. The Town is my mom, and that’s it.”_

_The Town seems relieved, or as relieved as a town can be when Henry runs into the clock tower, but what really astonishes Emma are the doors swinging open, seeming to invite her inside. There’s a drink sitting on the floor of the tower._

_Emma grins. “I’m not one to turn down free alcohol. Thanks, Town.”_

Slowly, Emma stands up, pats the wall one more time, and walks down the stairs back to Main Street. She and Main Street have had some pretty intense arguments in the past, but they’ve formed something of a truce now.

_The street wobbles and shakes, almost as though trying to throw Emma off the road. “I’m just trying to pick up my son from school!” Emma shouts at the road, but its movements increase tenfold. She sighs. “Fine. Your son. Whatever.”_

_The road stills and settles, finally allowing Emma to pull into the parking lot of Storybrooke Elementary._

The harbor is quiet and still when Emma arrives, and she sighs as she sits down on a bench.

_Neverland is hotter than a normal jungle, and Emma’s arms are burning with the effort of the magic. But when she glances over the dock is wearing a determined expression, and when Emma closes her eyes and concentrates, she feels the moon move with their combined efforts._

Emma supposes that moment when they moved the moon was when she first fell for The Town. How could she not, knowing that they could make that kind of magic together?

The _Welcome to Storybrooke_ sign is a bit harder to find, now that the hedge trimmer has quit. But Emma likes it that way. It gives them more privacy. This sign is the true symbol of The Town, the one she loves so dearly.

She remembers that day on the town line when the sign held her hands (she’s still not really sure how that worked) and promised her a happy ending with their son. She remembers being in New York and feeling something missing, but never knowing that it was The Town’s absence from her life leaving an emptiness where there used to be so much.

And then when she came back, watching The Town fall in love with someone else tore at her heart like nothing before.

The darkness is welling up inside her. Her fingers itch to do something terrible, but she doesn’t move. Because now, The Town is quiet. It’s listening. The Town may still be with Robin, but Emma knows it will always love her.

She just has to find a way to save herself from the darkness. She doesn’t regret sacrificing herself – how could she let The Town be engulfed, right after it found its happy ending after such a long search?

So no, she doesn’t regret anything. She’s always loved hard. “I’m gonna find a way to get my old self back,” she murmurs to the sign, running a gentle hand over the curve of the top of it. “And then we can be happy. I promise.” Because after everything that’s happened, everything she’s been through with The Town both good and bad, it’s always going to be the one she loves more than anyone else.

And she’s never going to stop fighting for it.


End file.
